Remnants In The Dust
by Gaara's Plaything
Summary: Akatsuki confronts Konoha with disastrous results. In the aftermath, two Uchiha are brought back to the village, and one cherry blossom finds herself in between them in a way she never thought possible. AU canon story, M for upcoming lemons, possibly. Sequel to Overnight Stay.


**I rewrote this, even though it was complete. Why? Because I hated it. I've **_**always **_**hated it, and I especially hated the way I ended it, it was stupid and lame. So I'm redoing it. It's perfect timing, too, since I can put more than one person on the character filter, this can be a true ItaSakuSasu like I'd originally wanted, but hadn't done.**

**So I don't own Naruto, and please enjoy.**

_**Remnants In The Dust**_

**Chapter One**

The village was a wreck, though thankfully not actually in ruins. Akatsuki had attacked, with their not-so-secret-anymore leader at the forefront. It had been a shock to discover that the real leader of the criminal organisation had been a man long thought to be dead, but people had gotten over it quickly enough to fight back. Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura had taken on Pein and his Paths, Naruto defeating them easily with Sage Mode and with his friends to back him up. Once he was defeated, Naruto had then left to hunt down the real Pein.

Once he was gone, that was when Madara showed himself. He toyed with the shinobi of the Leaf, and then revealed a trump card in the form of Danzou and his ROOT agents. All this time, Danzou had been conspiring with the rogue Uchiha in a bod for power, expecting that when Tsunade and all the shinobi loyal to her were gone, that he would take his place as Hokage.

But Madara apparently had other ideas.

At first the two of them worked in tandem, taunting them all with the fact that they'd been manipulating Konoha from behind the scenes for several decades, Madara even going so far as to admit that the Uchiha massacre had been orchestrated by them. There had been disbelief among the ninja assembled, that wasn't something any of them would have thought possible. Madara bragged about the fact that he wiped them out, with Uchiha Itachi apparently only killing his father. Apparently Danzou had used stolen Sharingan that he was now fighting with to basically brainwash the Third into agreeing that _all _the Uchiha needed to die, for the 'good' of the village.

Eventually Madara got bored fighting alongside Danzou, and after watching his accomplice throw away more than half of his ROOT agents, the mad Uchiha then double-crossed Danzou, who turned pale at the knowledge that he was just another pawn after all, and he and his remaining ROOT had attacked. They were defeated, though, and once that happened, Naruto returned. Madara was enraged to see him, obviously having banked on Nagato either killing Naruto off, or rendering him unconscious for capture, and he attacked.

The battle was long, but in the end, Madara was driven out of Konoha. They were going to have to hunt him down, eventually, but they needed to get their village back together in order for that to happen. Repairs needed to be made, and other nations needed to see that, just because they were attacked, that didn't mean that they were fair game to them now. So jounin and Anbu were sent out to patrol the borders and keep the village and the Land of Fire Safe.

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade-hime, had collapsed from chakra exhaustion, though, having used her two most powerful jutsu to keep the citizens of Konoha protected and was now in a coma. Hatake Kakashi was nominated to temporarily take charge until the Fifth recovered, and one of the first things he did was to send word to the Fire Daimyo to alert him to what had happened.

A lot of people were dead, though they were victims of Madara and not Pein. Naruto had convinced the Akatsuki member to bring all the dead back to life, but obviously could do that for the ones who died after that moment. But it had reduced the fatalities from thousands to fewer than fifty, most of which had been shinobi. It was still a great loss, but not as great as it would have been, and for this, people were grateful.

In any case, the village was healing now, and they could all just hope that nothing would happen to upset that.

OoOoO

Sakura had had it. She was done. At least temporarily anyway. She really needed to get away and figure some things out, or at least let some steam off, but she needed permission first. So she planned to go see Kakashi and ask for a few days leave so that she could get her head straight. All the events that had happened only eight days ago were swirling around in her head, and not in any productive way.

So here she was, marching up to the Hokage's office to ask, as _nicely_ as she could, for time off.

Once she reached the doors to the office, she knocked and immediately heard her former sensei's voice calling her in. Opening the door, she saw that there was a mountain of paperwork around him, and that, just like Tsunade-shishou, he was ignoring it. She frowned at this and decided to tell him off for it.

"Kakashi-sensei, why aren't you doing your paperwork?" she asked, and he looked up from the Icha Icha he was reading.

"Well, hello to you too, Sakura," he said. "I'm just waiting for the new official seal that I need for these, since I can't use Tsunade-hime's"

Oh right. Each Hokage had their own seal for official document, personalised to each of them so that official records could be sorted under the correct Hokage in the scroll storage vaults beneath the village. "Well, you could at least sort the important and mundane ones from each other," Sakura said, not wanting to be totally wrong.

"Maybe later," Kakashi dismissed. "Was there a reason you came here, Sakura? Or did you just want to visit your old sensei?"

Sakura cracked a smile. "I want permission to leave the village for awhile," she said, adding hastily when it looked like he would argue, "I've already sorted everything at the hospital, it's all covered. I just need to get away, think about things, about a week, that's all. I'll be back for your official ceremony, I promise."

Kakashi was officially being sworn in as the Sixth Hokage in ten days, though if Tsunade woke up before then, it would be cancelled. "Alright, Sakura," Kakashi said. "One week, and you have to tell Naruto you're leaving, and why."

Sakura sighed. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," she said with a smile, then the temporary Sixth Hokage dismissed her with an eye crinkling smile.

OoOoO

There was no way that he was going to let him go, not after coming this far and _finally _finding out the truth. After everything in his life, how he'd been lied to and manipulated, the only truth now couldn't be taken away from him, not if he could help it. He couldn't lose his brother after realising that his aniki had actually been looking out for him all this time! So he dragged his brother's limp form to the first shelter of any sort he could find, a cave in this instance, and utilised the medical ninjutsu that he'd picked up from watching Kabuto.

It wasn't enough, though, Itachi needed a proper medic to heal him, not someone who only knew rudimentary medical ninjutsu. Just like that time at the hidden base when he'd healed Sakura's shallow wounds, Sasuke could only close the skin on his brother's wounds to prevent him from bleeding out, there was nothing he could do for the internal damage. But remembering Sakura gave him an idea…

Could he ask her to heal Itachi? It's not like Konoha knew the truth, his brother was an S-ranked missing nin after all, just as Sasuke was himself. And even then, how would he find her? The Uchiha brothers were in Fire country right now, close to the borders with both River country and Ame's border as well. And going to find Sakura would mean leaving Itachi alone, and was he really sure that was such a good idea? But Sasuke needed to make a decision, and soon.

After another attempt to heal his brother, Sasuke finally decided that he needed to go and get Sakura, or at least a medic nin if he couldn't find her. After making sure that Itachi was stable and wasn't going to die anytime soon (he hoped), Sasuke gathered a few necessities and head off in the direction of Konoha.

OoOoO

She had been wandering aimlessly for awhile before deciding to go to Suna. When Sakura had told Naruto that she was leaving for a week, the knucklehead had wanted to go with her, but she'd smacked him over the head and said she was doing this because she needed to be _alone_, and didn't want anyone hanging around and bugging her. He'd whined and wheedled, trying to get his own way, but in the end had relented when she reminded him that Hinata needed him to be in the village.

So now here she was, a day towards Suna. When she got there, she planned to catch up with Temari and her brothers for a day before heading back in time for her deadline. One day to River's border, two days across the desert, and with her trip, she would be mentally refreshed enough to face whatever came their way next. At least she hoped.

Something tingled on the edge of her senses, and Sakura realised that there was another ninja out here. But there was no way to tell if they were friendly or not, so she masked her own chakra signature and concealed herself, waiting to see if they passed by her or if they stopped. If the latter, it would mean they'd already detected her, and she hoped they weren't hostile, she really didn't want to get into a fight.

After a moment of studying, it was all Sakura could do to resist gasping in surprise when she realised that the chakra was familiar. It had been two years, but considering their history and how intimate she'd gotten with him the last time they'd met, there was no way she could mistake it. Uchiha Sasuke. What was he doing in Fire country?

Sakura hadn't told anyone about what had transpired between them. Even though a whole Anbu squad had gone back to the base, only to find it empty, she hadn't let on that Sasuke had been there. She hadn't even told Naruto, though in hindsight, maybe she should have. They'd been best friends after all, though it was now Gaara that filled that role.

After holding her breath and waiting, Sasuke finally came into sight, walking into the small clearing below her and stopping. Sakura's heart beat loudly in her chest, she was sure he could hear it. She stared at him for a long moment, then realised with a start that he looked terrible, like he'd been in a fight. Had that happened in a battle against his brother? But then that would mean that Sasuke didn't know the truth about the massacre, with records in Konoha had confirmed.

"I know you're there, Sakura," Sasuke suddenly said. "I sensed your presence."

Reluctantly she came out of hiding, and noticed the way he immediately looked at her, but his words bowled her over. "I need your help," he said.

"My help?" she asked. "Why on earth would you need me?"

The look he gave her was surprisingly open, but she remained silent, waiting for his answer. Finally he told her, "I need you to heal my brother."

Sakura almost fainted from shock.

OoOoO

Kami must have been watching over them, or at least some kind of benevolent spirit, for him to have found Sakura so quickly and easily. Sasuke watched as she leapt down from the tree she'd attempted to conceal herself in and walk over to him, her stance wary.

"Heal your brother?" she asked. "Why would you want anyone to heal him?"

Sasuke sighed. "It's complicated," he told her. "Suffice it to say, Itachi is not the monster people claim him to be."

A strange look flickered over her face, and she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Sasuke studied her a moment, debating on whether or not he should tell her. Deciding to tell her, he said, "My family was killed on Konoha's orders."

There was no gasp of shock, no widening of the eyes, and that at the very least made Sasuke suspicious. He narrowed his eyes and stated, "You know. How do you know?"

"Madara and the Akatsuki attacked Konoha," Sakura told him. "He bragged about it in front of a large crowd of witnesses."

Surprised, Sasuke asked, "When was this?"

"Nine days ago now," Sakura told him. "After Naruto beat his ass, he fled like a coward, and we've been rebuilding since then."

Sasuke counted, it must have been only six days after that that Madara had confronted them and nearly killed Itachi. "He found us three days ago and tried to kill Itachi," Sasuke said. "When I tried to stop him, because it was _my_ fight, Madara told me the truth. I thought he was lying, but Itachi didn't deny it, so I attacked Madara, but he fled."

"That seems to be his thing lately," Sakura commented, and the two of them fell silent.

Finally she said, "Alright, I'll heal him. Take me to him."

OoOoO

Healing Itachi's wounds was a cake-walk, but Sakura discovered that there was more to it than his injuries. She wasn't sure if Sasuke was aware of it, but his brother was sick. It wasn't anything she immediately recognised, but Sakura could tell it originated in his stomach and had somehow spread into his lungs. Once she was done with the injuries she cut her chakra off, swaying slightly, but she refused to faint. She needed to be alert around them, because she had no idea what the elder brother's reaction might be.

Now the elder was stirring, and Sakura was confronted with blue eyes so dark that they looked almost black. Itachi stared at her with an intensity that made her want to run away and hide. The desire to do so was so strong, that she almost stumbled back, but then Sasuke was there, moving forward to check his sibling. Sakura watched the two of them interact, and though no words were spoken, she had the feeling that they were conveying so much more than any one person could express.

Finally, Itachi looked at her again, and his gaze was softer. "You healed me," he said, and Sakura got the feeling it was a statement, not a question.

Regardless, she nodded. "Madara did a real number on you," she commented, and the elder of the brothers merely grunted.

The question of what the hell she was going to do with them was bugging her, so she turned to Sasuke to demand, "What are you going to do now? I really should take you both in, but I have a feeling that would be futile."

Itachi stiffened and Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "You said everyone knows the truth…"

"Thanks to Madara…"

"…Then maybe you should check with your Hokage, and she could decide."

"Lady Tsunade is currently unable to fulfil her duties as Hokage and a temporary Sixth Hokage has been assigned," Sakura said.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose. "Who is Hokage then?" he asked. "And please don't tell me it's Naruto."

Sakura grinned at him. "Of course not, there's now way he's ready for all that responsibility just yet. Kakashi-sensei is the interim Hokage."

"And how would he react to our return?" Itachi asked, and Sakura could hear that he was still incredibly weak, a combination of whatever that disease was, chakra loss and the injuries she'd healed.

Sakura shrugged. "Since everyone knows, I doubt _you_ would be in any danger, Uchiha-san," she told him, then turned to Sasuke. "_You_, on the other hand, deliberately abandoned your village in the pursuit of power, so some form of disciplinary action would be required. I wouldn't worry, though, with Kakashi-sensei in charge."

"And what about when Tsunade-hime recovers from whatever is preventing her from being unable to carry out her responsibilities?" Itachi asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Should be about the same," she said. "She's supported Naruto in his mission to bring Sasuke back to the village as much as she could, and with Danzou and the other elders dead, at least there won't be anyone to demand your deaths."

Itachi looked at his brother, who stared at him a moment and then nodded. "We will return," Itachi said.

**So what did you think? If you read the original, do you agree that this is better?**

**Review please! ;)**


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